Chief Editor of Borisovskiye Novosti Is Charged with Libel and Insult of Honor and Dignity

The chief editor of the non-state public and political weekly Borisovskiye Novosti Anatol Bukas was charged upon two articles of the Criminal Code. On 27 January he received the appropriate ruling. If found guilty, Bukas can be sentenced to up to three years of jail or up to two years of personal restraint.

After the consideration of the materials of the criminal case the investigator of the department of preliminary investigation of Barysaw Town Board of Internal Affairs (TBIA) Siarhey Kazlow concluded that A. Bukas violated part 2 of article #188 (libel in mass media) and part 2 of article #189 (deliberate insult of honor and dignity of a person, expressed in obscene form).

The reason for the case was the article of A. Bukas “Silence of The Lambs”, published in #12 (18-24 March 2004) of Borisovskiye Novosti. The publication was about the editor of the newspaper of Barysaw Town Executive Committee Adzinstva Vera Pratasevich. In private, the investigator found libels in such expressions as “to cover the faceless pages of her newspaper”, “having the level of a stenographer at a factory newspaper”, etc. and insults – in “took the role of the defender of the officials who go to extremes”, etc.

According to Bukas, the articles was an answer to the three publications of the newspaper of Barysaw TEC Adzinstva in which Vera Pratasevich called him “ill-bread editor”, compared him to foolish cock, etc. Brest TBIA refused to conduct the linguistic expertise of those publications.

The chief editor of Borisovskiye Novosti is sure that the case was brought on the initiative of the local executive committee:

-- They use cruel methods to liquidate the concurrent of the official newspaper, the circulation and popularity of which are far from our one. Our edition publishes materials, which are not very pleasant for the executive committee, -- stated Bukas.

Press service of Belarusian Association of Journalists